The Wounded World

The Wounded World Page 9

by Michael Vu

  *******

  The storm only lasted two hours, and a minimal amount of sand ended up remaining on the dome. John spent the time staring at the swirling clouds of dust above them and doing complex mathematical equations in his head. Kate and Gilead cuddled in the corner, and Quin was left to his own thoughts.

  He thought about the beginning, when John had decided to leap through idiotically and how he had grabbed the backpack, and wondered if subconsciously maybe he had wanted to go through the Door too. He wondered how much he really cared about his father’s misdeeds – were they his responsibility to clean up? What would the other Committee members say if they knew what he and John had been up to? They hadn’t broken every rule in the book, but they had come pretty close. What was it that kept dragging him into one unprofessional decision after another?

  Then there was Meriym. He felt compelled to keep giving her leaves, although he knew almost nothing about her – she came from Cadrelle, she wasn’t afraid of him, and, according to Wolf, they smelled the same – whatever that meant. But the leaves made her happy, and he liked it when she smiled. It seemed very odd that so much could be going on inside his head that he couldn’t control.

  He felt his body begin to relax, slowly, drifting – ignoring the voice in the back of his head saying, don’t sleep, there are too many people around. Further and further into sleep he drifted, when suddenly it started: the screaming. It was the same screaming he had heard before – the melody and harmonies of a hundred thousand voices blended in simultaneous agony. He jerked awake and the screaming stopped.

  “What is it?” John asked.

  “Nothing,” Quin grunted. “Just need to pay more attention.”

  He looked around the room. People talked and whispered, slept and cuddled. One group on the far side of the cavern sang. Cows mooed. They were definitely not in any apparent danger.

  “They can’t do anything in here,” John said. “No one can escape.”

  “Suicide bomber,” Quin replied.

  “Really? Really? You come here, to ask them questions, and suddenly, from nowhere, you come up with ‘suicide bomber’? I think you need to get some more sleep, Quin.” John shook his head and leaned back again. “Oh look,” he said. “It’s clearing up.”

  A thin layer of sand covered the dome, but where streaks of it had blown away, a blue sky peeked through. The people in the dome let out a cheering roar, and the Covey stood up in the center of the dome and began to chant. They opened a small gap where some sand came pouring through, and a group of young men and women with shovels jumped up and began to dig out the entrance. When they had made more headway, the Covey lifted the dome more, causing sand to cascade down on all sides; then the crowd began to slowly stand and stretch, and make their way from the cavern.

  Quin and John followed Kate and Gilead out. Some of the tents had been knocked down, others were several feet high in sand, and still others seemed to have disappeared entirely. The people that swarmed from the cavern got to work immediately, setting up fallen tents, dragging out blankets and shaking off the sand, dumping buckets and pots and pans. The children swarmed the well, digging it out and doing something with the water.

  “Well, thank you,” Quin said, turning to Kate. “We appreciate your assistance, and we will leave your village to its cleanup.”

  “Oh no you don’t,” Kate answered. “I’m going too.”

  “You are?” Gilead and John said in unison – although John’s statement was more in surprise, and Gilead’s more disappointment.

  “The Seventh told me to stick with you if I really wanted to find my brother,” she replied.

  “When did she tell you that?” John asked.

  “Don’t ask,” Gilead said. “She might have said it today or ten years ago. The woman is terrifyingly real.” He turned to Kate and picked her up in a bear hug. “I hope you find your brother, I really do. But I also hope that you hurry up and come home.”

  Kate smiled and leaned up to kiss him. “I’ll miss you too,” she said.

  At that, she turned and strode off rapidly towards the Door. “Coming?” she called over her shoulder.

  “We’ll do our best to bring her back,” Quin reassured Gilead, shaking his hand.

  “I’d appreciate it,” he replied.

  Then they turned and followed Kate into the future.

  12. A WOUND IN THE WORLD

  He wasn’t sure if it was different this time, or if his eyes were changing in perception: the grass was a rainbow of greens – apple green, chartreuse, teal, forest, aquamarine, olive, moss, peacock, viridian, pine, lime, jade, malachite, beryl. He wasn’t sure he had words to name all of the greens springing out at him. The browns and greys were gone too, replaced by slate, silver, russet, and stone, and bronze, chestnut, cocoa, and mahogany. It was Path, but it wasn’t.

  “Oh my,” John said. “When did this place get painted?”

  “It’s beautiful!” Kate exclaimed. “Maybe the sun came out while we were gone.”

  “You’ve never seen the sun either?” Quin asked.

  “Nor the stars,” she replied. “No one on this planet has even seen the stars, so we can’t place where we are in the universe. Once the economy stabilizes, Timothy is hoping to get a flying machine to go above the clouds and figure out where we are.”

  A pensive look invaded John’s delight. “No one knows where this place is,” he repeated.

  “Nope,” Kate confirmed, and stepped from the bridge.

  “Wait,” Quin ordered. “Be quiet.” He listened. There was the wind, the rustling grass… and the river. It was running!

  “The river!” he and John exclaimed at the same time. “You can hear it now.”

  “Oh, you’re right,” Kate said. “I never noticed that before.”

  “Something really important is happening,” John said, “something that shouldn’t be happening with people on the planet. Although, I could be wrong, which I am usually not, but if I am right, which I usually am, we need to do some math quickly, or else we may not have much time. This may be another Briny Creek Day or Custard’s Landing or Pompeii.”

  “What are you talking about?” Quin said. John’s babbling was usually difficult to understand, but this wasn’t making any sense at all.

  In reply, John took off, sprinting to the house in the distance.

  “I guess we’d better keep up,” Kate said, and took off after him.

  Quin let them get a bit ahead, so they would all arrive at the same time, and then began to run, rapidly closing the distance between them. He passed Kate on the path, and then caught up to John as they reached the steps of the house. John was gasping for air, but didn’t pause, stumbling up the front steps of the house and banging on the door.

  “What’s wrong?” Meriym asked, a concerned expression resting on her features. Her cheeks were a little pink, Quin noticed.

  “Need… blackboard… chalk…” John gasped.

  “Of course,” Meriym said. “Tobias has some upstairs for doing presentations for people about preventative care. Please…”

  But John had pushed past her and clambered up the rope ladder to the second floor.

  “Sorry,” Quin said. “He gets like that.”

  “Oh, it’s fine! Is everything all right? Hello, Kate.”

  “Hey, Meriym,” Kate replied, putting her bag on the floor by the door.

  “Not sure,” Quin said. “But if he’s panicking for a blackboard enough to run, probably not. I better go keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn’t start writing on the walls.”

  Meriym laughed, and Quin climbed up the rope ladder.

  The upstairs was very simple. It was one large, square room. Beds covered half of the space, but one corner had what looked like hospital beds with curtains, and the other empty corner was filled with three large chalkboards and many chairs – a classroom of sorts. John had already found chalk and was scribbling numbers and symbols across the board with both hands. Whatever it was that
had him riled, it must be important.

  Quin sat in a chair and waited. There was no telling how long this could take, but he thought that the result might be important enough to wait for. It wasn’t long before Tobias came climbing up the ladder, with Kip right behind him.

  “What’s going on?” Tobias asked.

  “We noticed the colours changed outside,” Quin replied, “and that the red river is now running. As a result, John felt the need to do some math.”

  “I see,” Tobias said. “Well, now that you mention the river, many people have had thoughts on that. One boy tried to break a piece off, and it caused an earthquake. Based on that, people think it’s one of God’s veins – it’s how he keeps an eye on new followers. Other people think it’s a wound in the planet – an old pain caused by a sin or, well, who knows.”

  “A wound in the world,” John said, his back still to them and hands still writing. “If I am right, and I usually am, that is an excellent way to describe it. But it has nothing to do with God, no matter what the Life Stars believe. It has everything to do with stupidity and arrogance.”

  “Are you blaming this on Grise?” Quin asked.

  “Not necessarily. But I am blaming it on someone!”

  “How can one person be responsible for a geological problem with a planet? That’s like saying one person is responsible for exploding Mount Vesuvius and causing the death of everyone in Pompeii.” Tobias crossed his arms and frowned.

  “One person can absolutely be responsible,” John replied, “and, for your information, one person was responsible for Pompeii and he got fired and possibly put in jail. I think he’s dead now.”

  “What?”

  “Look,” John said, still not turning around, and his hands continuing to write. “If someone is screwing with planetary science, they can kill a lot of people by making one mistake.”

  All at once, his hands stopped moving, and he stepped back from the board, examining it closely.

  Then he swallowed audibly and sat down on the floor with a plop.

  “What is it?” Quin asked, standing up.

  John turned and his wide eyes gazed up at Quin from the floor.

  “Imagine for a moment,” he began, “that Grise – or someone – wanted to build a planet. To retire on, for example. A planet where all of the houses were prebuilt. A planet where anyone from anywhere could feel comfortable. A planet of his very own. And imagine that that planet is this planet. Path.”

  Quin nodded slowly.

  “Now imagine that people started moving onto that planet before it was completed. Before he had worked out all the kinks. Before he was sure the planet wouldn’t explode.”

  “Are you saying that Grise is still working on this planet while we’re standing on it?” Quin took a step back and looked at the floor where he had been standing. He knew it hadn’t changed, but his perception of everything around him changed, and the floor, the house, the ground on which was standing became a lot less safe.

  “Probably,” John replied. “It’s likely. And if so, it’s likely that he is on this planet somewhere, too. We just need to figure out where.”

  “Maybe Gilead is right,” came Kate’s voice from behind them. Quin turned to see her sitting on the edge of the trapdoor. “Maybe I should just go home. This is too weird.”

  A wealth of emotions began to well up in Quin. He wasn’t used to this. Damn Cadrelle for making him feel things. “If… if Grise is still working on this planet, and something goes wrong…”

  “It’s like driving a car while fixing the carburetor,” John said. “It just doesn’t work.”

  “But then Meriym isn’t safe. Or Kip. Or Wolf. Or Madam Barooth or Timothy or anyone that lives in that village or any of the other settlements. We need to evacuate.” Quin’s mind began to race with evacuation procedures. If there were any other Doors on the planet, they could usher them into his living room and the Committee could provide temporary accommodations until things were resolved. Or perhaps they would have send out runners to get everyone to come to the bridge – that process could take days or weeks. And who knew how long the planet would last? They needed to start now.

  “The problem with that,” John interrupted his thoughts, “is the new Doors. We don’t know what kind of impact an exploding planet would have. Remember what I told you about the planet Antony was studying – it blew up and the other side of its Door blew up in a three mile radius. These Doors connect to everywhere. Every Door in the universe could be destroyed and thousands and millions of people with it. Think of how many Doors there are in Pomegranate City alone! People have them in their basements and closets and back rooms – illegally, of course, but there nonetheless. Even if we could get back, we might not have a planet to go back to!”

  He looked back and forth from Tobias to Kip to Kate. “And the same goes for you too. And then Meriym would lose a second home, a child, and her life this time.”

  “So what do we do?” Quin asked.

  “Simple,” John replied. “We find Grise, and we solve the problem. We fix the planet.”

  Four sets of unblinking eyes stared at him.

  “But first we eat!” And in a moment, John’s smiled had replaced the intensity of his revelation and he was scrambling back down the ladder to the kitchen.

  Tobias and Kip followed him down, and Kate had moved before John had even reached the ladder, so Quin stood alone in the upstairs of this strange little house. Fixing the planet. John made it sound like it was the easiest thing in the world, but Quin had no idea how to go about doing that, and he was forced to believe that John did. This whole thing seemed to be turning into a contest of beliefs – it was his belief in John versus the Life Stars’ belief in the gods. They believed that this place was safe, given to them as a gift. If he and John fixed it, they would probably go on living in ignorance, believing the same thing. But then again, maybe John was God’s gift to the Life Stars, too, to stabilize the gift of home.

  Quin shook his head rapidly and wandered over to a window. The upstairs had four on each wall; if the outside of the house were divided into squares, then the windows would fall directly in the center of the square. This side of the house looked out towards the hedge, towards the village. The trees were crisp silhouettes against the cloudy skyline. He walked to another window. From here he looked out over the field which stretched infinitely away from the house – except, from this high up, he could see the tops of trees peeking over the edge of the field’s offing.

  Turning, he headed to the next set of windows, to look over the red river and the bridge. The river was vibrant among the green; it drew the eyes so powerfully it was difficult to look away. From this distance, Quin could not see the Doors sitting side by side on the bridge, but he could see the bridge – and then he noticed something very odd. Whenever he tried to look at the other side of the river, his eyes seemed to slide right back down to the river itself. If he tried to focus beyond the bridge his mind told him that it was just more grass and trees and that the other side of the bridge was unimportant.

  He stared as hard as he could, but could not figure out what he was looking at. If he looked at the bridge and then paid attention to his peripheral, all he could detect was a sort of grey haze. If he focused on the spot where the grey haze was, he imagined – but didn’t see – that there was green grass, and then his eyes dropped down to look at the river.

  This time he looked up, at the clouds. His eyes followed them into the distance – the far distance, and when he looked down he could make out a faint line. When he concentrated on that line he could see that the clouds went over top of something that he couldn’t see, something that dragged his eyes right back down and convinced him that nothing was there. He frowned. What was so important that they weren’t allowed to see what was on the other side of the river? What was on the other side of the bridge?

  Quin scrambled down the ladder to find Tobias, Kip, Kate, John, and Meriym sitting at the kitchen table, dishing out coo
ked vegetables from a bowl.

  “Oh, there you are,” Meriym said, smiling. “Would you like a plate?”

  “No thank you,” Quin replied. “I’m not hungry. But I do have a question.”

  Everyone at the table turned to look at him curiously.

  “What is on the other side of the bridge?”

  Their faces turned from curious to confused.

  “What do you mean?” Meriym asked. “It’s just more grass and trees, isn’t it?”

  “I guess I’ve never actually been over there,” Tobias said. “It never seemed necessary. But yes, trees and more field.”

  Kate and John looked at each other and shrugged.

  “Is it important?” Kate asked.

  “Yes,” Quin said. “Because if you look at it, and I mean really look at it, there isn’t anything there.”

  At that moment, Kip began shaking his head rapidly and reaching out from himself as if he were trying to protect himself. A terrified expression covered his face, and his rapid hand gestures caused him to fall out of his chair. Meriym jumped up to help him.

  John frowned.

  “He says, ‘don’t go there, don’t go there. The bad man is there and he won’t let you go home,’” John translated.

  “You mean he has been there?” Quin asked.

  “It would appear so, and it would appear that he didn’t like it.”

  When Kip was sitting upright in his chair again, they could see that he was crying.

  “Oh honey, oh honey,” Meriym said. “Don’t worry. We won’t make you go over there, I promise. We’ll keep you safe here! It’s the festival in the village today, remember? We’ll go down there and I’ll buy you a donut, and everything will be okay.”

  Kip nodded, wiping snot from his nose and taking a few gasping breaths of air.

  “Can I ask you a question, Kip? Just one,” Kate said.

  Kip nodded reluctantly.

  “How did you get there in the first place?”

  Kip signed back five quick hand symbols and then put his face down on the table covered by his arms, refusing to look at anyone any more. Meriym stroked his back.

  “He says, ‘the bad man took me from my mom and dad,’” John translated.

  “A kidnapped child,” Kate breathed. “If ‘the bad man’ took Kip, maybe he also took my brother and all the others! We could find them! Save them!”

  “It is entirely possible,” John replied, stroking his tie. “Likely, even, given all the information we’ve found so far. And Kip was probably so traumatized by the experience that he quit speaking.”

  “I wonder what the bad man did,” Kate mused.

  “Hush,” Tobias chimed in, finally. “If he is suffering from psychological damage, chatting about his situation at the dinner table is not going to help fix anything! Let’s finish eating, and then you can all go find out what is on the other side of the bridge.”

  John lifted his bowl and quickly shoveled the vegetables into his mouth. “Delicious,” he said. “Meriym, you are a wonderful cook.”

  “I agree,” Kate added, setting her plate down, emptied. “Can we go now?”

  In response, Quin reached down, picked up the backpack, and slung it over his shoulder. Kate and John stood, grabbing their things, and they strode from the house.

  The bright colours of the grass and sky and river bothered Quin a great deal. As he walked through, all he could imagine was that the tendrils of grass were living, and would reach up to grab his ankles to drag him down and suffocate him. Or that the river would grow hands of blood and drown him. Or the birds in the sky would dive down from on high and peck out his eyes. He glanced up.

  “Have you ever seen any of those birds perched?” John asked.

  “No,” Quin replied.

  “No,” Kate confirmed.

  “I think the clouds and birds might be a smokescreen of sorts – a projected image so that you can’t see outside.”

  “What’s outside?” Quin asked.

  “Well, if the planet isn’t done, he’s probably got it stored in an inter-dimensional workshop, like the ones we use in Pomegranate City. And if that is the case, we are nowhere.”

  “How long can a planet last in an inter-dimensional space?” Kate asked.

  “A maximum of five years,” John said. “Then we have to put it in orbit, or it screws with the physics.”

  “Why five years?” Quin asked.

  John gave him an irritated look. “Do you really want me to explain it to you? I mean, the truth is, five years is a formality – could be more or less. But—”

  “Wait,” Quin interrupted. “I don’t care. But today is the festival.”

  “So?” John raised an eyebrow.

  “A five-year celebration of the first arrival.”

  Kate and John’s eyes widened.

  “That… that means…” John took a deep breath. “He’s probably planning to move the planet today.”

  They walked the rest of the distance to the bridge in silence, each absorbed in their own fears and worries. When they arrived, they stopped and stared at the two Doors which took up all of the space on the bridge.

  “How are we supposed to get across?” Kate asked.

  Quin leaned out and looked around the Door, but his eyes kept wavering, faltering, as if there wasn’t anything there, but his brain didn’t quite want to believe it. He frowned and looked around the other side: same thing.

  “I don’t think I can climb around,” he said. “I’m afraid my brain would drop me in the river.”

  “Not to mention that I definitely can’t climb around,” John added. “And it would hardly be fair to leave us behind!”

  Kate crouched down and peered closely at the Door, tilting her head sideways. She stood slowly, staring in the pool of coloured haze, and reached out to poke her finger at it.

  John drew in a breath, but she didn’t get sucked in.

  “She won’t get sucked in,” Quin said in an annoyed tone.

  “I know the science!” John exclaimed. “It’s all cognitive mathematics – you have to intend to go in. But that doesn’t make it any less scary in real life!”

  “Oh, is that how they work?” Kate asked. “As in, you have say, ‘I want to go to Markel,’ and it drops you there?”

  “More or less,” John confirmed.

  “Well, why don’t we just walk across the bridge then?”

  “Huh?” John’s face twisted into a confused frown.

  “I mean, just tell the Gate we want to go to the other side of the bridge.”

  The look on John’s face blossomed into one of pure amazement. “I… I… you’re… incredible, is what you are!” He began to bounce up and down excitedly.

  “That assumes there is a Door on the other side of the bridge,” Quin interjected. “What if there isn’t?”

  “There is! There is!” John was practically giddy. “Think about it! All of the clues we’ve found point us to the person responsible being your father. And he’s gone to a lot of effort to make the other side of the bridge imperceptible to anyone looking. But he still needs to be able to come and go, doesn’t he? And what better place to set up operation than on his own planet? No one will find him there! That’s got to be the answer. It’s exactly what I would do!”

  “Great,” Quin said wryly. “Are you implying that you’re going to turn into my father?”

  John chucked. “Not for a few hundred years at any rate. Who knows what I’ll do when I get bored? Can we go now? You first.”

  Taking a deep breath, Quin adjusted the backpack, and then slowly and deliberately stepped through the Door.

  13. THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BRIDGE

  They stood on the bridge, looking at vibrantly green grass and a silver-pebbled path leading up the hill. Grey clouds covered the sky, and black birds drifted on the air currents and cawed. On this side of the bridge, there was no square house, only the path leading up and over the rise. Had the house been there, it would have been a mi
rror image of the place from which they had just come.

  “It looks the same,” Kate said.

  “What do we do?” John asked.

  “Follow the path,” Quin replied, striding forward. He felt tense, ready to spring at any surprise or intrusion. He sensed that while this side of the bridge might not reveal his father, it would at least give them enough information to find him.

  The next fifteen minutes or so felt no different than walking to and past Meriym’s house. Hard lines separated the path and the grass; vivid greens blazed in the fields around them. It was cool, but not cold, and a light breeze brushed by every so often. But as they began to crest the hill, things changed. In front of them was not the colourful village with the pleasant village people. There were no spherical lights placed equidistant along the path, and most of all, it was not calm, quiet, and peaceful.

  The first thing he noticed as they reached the top of the hill was sound. He could hear laughing and talking, machines and roaring and wind. When he looked down, he could see these things too: a bustling city built of tall red brick buildings rising up on all sides, flashing florescent lights, people of various descents scurrying to and fro. In his immediate vicinity he saw Humans, Bandians, Second Galaxy Police, Madrians, and members of the Militant Army moving rapidly, heads down against the wind which swept their hats into the street and wrapped cloaks around their ankles.

  But for the moment, no one saw them. It was as if they were invisible.

  “Look,” John said, pointing down. In front of them was a dark line, laid perpendicular to the path, and stretching as far as they could see in both directions.

  “It must be the wall that prevents us from seeing across the river,” Kate said.

  “Yes,” John replied. “He’s used it to protect the Door.”

  “How do we get through it?” Quin asked.

  “Walk through, I imagine, and then blend in with the crowd as quickly as possible.” John stepped over the line. Nothing changed, so Quin and Kate followed him through.

  The wall caused a strange tingling sensation, Quin noted, but it didn’t hurt. He wondered briefly what technology Grise had used to build it.

  Moving rapidly forward, the three continued into the town. It appeared that the population here seemed to be largely made up of youths and young adults. Occasionally they saw an adult, but they seemed to be much fewer than younger individuals. Groups of teenagers swarmed the streets, laughing and talking.

  “It’s like a college town,” John whispered to Quin, “where they stick all the young people in one place and hope they learn stuff.”

  “Where are we going, though?” Kate asked. “Do we even know what we’re looking for?”

  “Let’s just walk around first,” Quin replied. “See if anything stands out.”

  The farther they walked into town, the more congested the streets became. The buildings, crammed together, appeared to contain several stories. On the first floor were cafés and eateries; the second floor seemed to house clothing and goods stores; and the third, fourth, and fifth floors looked to be housing. Here and there a building was closed off and labeled “Labs.”

  “I wonder if their ‘labs’ are the same as ours,” John mused. “If so, it would appear that there are community science buildings – which is awesome.”

  Quin noticed that Kate seemed distracted. She peered closely at every face that walked by, her own becoming more and more concerned.

  The next impressive building they came upon was a library. It stood several stories higher than the other buildings, and was decorated with elaborate gilded columns, carvings of wood and of stone, and a detailed imbricated roof. John allowed himself to be jostled close to the building and then tripped – purposefully.

  “That wasn’t very subtle,” Quin muttered, grabbing the back of John’s shirt and hauling him to his feet.

  “These buildings seem to have been grown,” John replied, shaking free of Quin’s grip. He brushed off his shirt and scowled. “On the other hand, these buildings are far more elaborate and elegant than the ones on the other side.”

  “Also more thought out,” Quin added.

  “Maybe the buildings on the other side were just practice ones,” John continued, rubbing his chin with his fingers.

  “We should split up,” Kate said suddenly.

  “No,” John and Quin said simultaneously.

  “Too dangerous,” Quin added. “We don’t know what we’re dealing with.”

  “Well, you two can stay together, then,” Kate said. “But I have to go look for my brother. Bye.”

  Quin reached out to grab her, but he was too late, and she ducked into the crowd surrounding them and ran off.

  “Go after her!” John exclaimed.

  “Can’t.” Quin shrugged. “You and I need to stick together if we’re going to be able to deal with Grise – assuming he’s here, that is. Kate can take care of herself.”

  “Fine,” John replied, and took off into the crowd in the direction they had been heading.

  They walked for about ten more minutes, carefully avoiding being trodden upon by the masses, and looked everywhere for any signs or clues of what this town was about.

  “We need to stop and ask,” Quin stated with finality. “We can just pick a café and say we’re new here or something.”

  “No!” John exclaimed. “We can do this without help. And if we need it, we should go to the library.”

  “We’ve been here a while,” Quin argued. “Rather than stumbling about aimlessly, we need to get information.”

  They rounded a corner and stopped, surprised expressions crossing both of their faces.

  “There’s our information,” John observed, pointing at the massive building in front of them.

  A huge set of stairs let up to a colonnade, featuring a row of twenty-foot tall ionic columns. The roof peaked high into the sky, several stories higher than any of the surrounding buildings. It was more elaborate and beautiful than the library by far; the roof itself was gilded, and each carving featured a young face. Elegant designs of curled leaves and flowers were painted exquisitely on the enormous wooden doors, and young people streamed in and out sometimes sitting on the front steps with books open on their laps.

  Quin’s mouth dropped open. “It’s… it’s…”

  “What is it?” John asked.

  “My mother…” Quin was having trouble speaking. “…she was… an… an architect.”

  “I remember,” John said. “But didn’t she die? A long time ago?”

  “Yes,” Quin replied, emotions roiling in his chest. “But… but… this was her last design. She was working on it for the school of Magna Tel, over by the Great Ocean.”

  “Really?” John asked. “I never knew that. That was a big project – Steven D’Arlen finished it. And it doesn’t look anything like this.”

  “She never finished the design,” Quin said, still at a loss. “She died too soon.”

  “Well,” John replied, reaching out to put a comforting hand on Quin’s shoulder. “I think that settles any doubts we might have had. Grise made this place, for sure.”

  Quin nodded and a scowl draped over his features. This building was a magnificent tribute to his mother; that he couldn’t deny. But Grise had done it in a way that endangered civilizations all over the universe! Not only that, but how could Grise do something like this and never even bother to mention it? Selfish old bastard, Quin thought to himself. Never gave the time of day for Quin after his mother died. Sure, he paid the bills. Sure, he made it possible for Quin to get an education. But beyond that? Nothing. Quin’s childhood was one of near abandonment. And then Grise went and did this.

  Swallowing, Quin made a decision. “We’re going in.”

  “Wait, wait!” John exclaimed.

  “For what?”

  “I need to change my shirt.”

  Quin’s scowl deepened.

  “I’m serious!” John exclaimed. “And you should, too. We loo
k like we haven’t bathed in days, and while that may be a fact, we don’t have to go around advertising it – especially in a place like that. You wouldn’t want to disrespect your mother. Over there is a spot.” He pointed to an alley over to their left between two buildings. “It will take us two minutes, and then we’ll look like we’re supposed to be there, and not bums that wandered in by accident.”

  It made sense, from a strategic standpoint, but Quin also knew that part of it was just John itching to change his clothes.

  “Fine,” he said, striding rapidly towards the alleyway. “Two minutes.”

  When they emerged two minutes later, Quin had to admit he felt better. The clean clothes were a confidence booster, and ensured that he didn’t have to worry about people thinking he looked out of place. John clearly felt better as well, as a new smile was blossoming over his face. The second tie that he brought with him was his planets tie: starting at the knot, planets of various sizes got bigger and bigger as the tie got wider. This was one of John’s favourites – but then again, every single one of John’s ties was one of his favourites.

  Shouldering the backpack, Quin led John up the steps. Students rushed past them in all directions, laughing, chatting, and some even reading. Quin was beginning to feel a little conspicuous, purely because of his age.

  “These kids look cheerful,” John commented as they neared the colonnade. “If they’re the stolen ones, they at least appear to be happy about it.”

  Quin didn’t comment, only nodded.

  The colonnade was quite wide, and the floor molded from some type of marble. Statues of children with books, test tubes, and other educational equipment were placed evenly across the outside wall of the building.

  “Well, those are creepy,” John muttered, glaring at one. “They’re about twice the size of an actual child, and is that one holding… a gun?”

  Turning his head slightly, Quin glanced at the statue. It was, in fact, holding a gun.

  “That is not usually a scientific instrument!” John exclaimed, “at least not for children!” He shook his head and crossed his arms. “If your father had anything to do with this, I’m having a word with him!”

  They strode forward towards the large front doors, which were propped open by rocks. Most of the youths seemed to be going in through one of the doors and out through another, so they followed suit.

  As soon as Quin stepped through the door, an alarm began to sound. Red lights flashed and Quin altered his stance to ‘ready.’ The kids around them looked around and whispered to each other, quickening their pace away from the building. They seemed to be afraid, as if this had never happened before.

  “Not a fire drill,” John muttered, shifting his shoulder bag.

  Then, armed guards filed into the hallway and marched towards John and Quin. The remaining kids fled, carefully staying out from under the feet of the guards. The lead guard stopped right in front of Quin.

  “Quin Black,” it said in a monotone voice, “your presence is required in the control room.”

  “Says who?” Quin asked angrily. He hated being singled out.

  “Our orders come from Grise Black.” The guard pointed his gun at Quin. “You will follow. Please place your hands on your head.”

  Quin’s eyes rapidly took in the scene around him. There seemed to be about twenty visible guards, although there was no telling how many waited in hallways, hidden alcoves, and rooms. Behind him was clear, but if he turned and ran, they could simply shoot him in the back – unless Grise had told them to take him alive. He thought about that for a second – he didn’t know if Grise would do that or not. Other options: he could pull out his pistol, but then they would all start shooting and he would be dead. If he used John as a shield, he could probably get away, but then John would be dead and that would hardly be fair. If any of the kids were nearby, he could use one of them as a hostage… but no, they had all fled. Finally, Quin simply took a deep breath, and placed his hands on his head. John copied him.

  “This way,” the guard intoned.

  The other guards took up positions around them, with guns aimed in their direction. Quin hoped they were well-trained enough not to accidentally pull the trigger. He wasn’t sure he trusted Grise to ensure that his men had received the appropriate training.

  The inside of the building was lovely – polished marble everywhere, grand sweeping staircases leading into the upper floors of the building, carvings and decorations on every flat surface. As they walked, John muttered about historical and anatomical inaccuracies of the statues while the footsteps of the guards echoed in the halls around them.

  Rounding a sharp corner, the guards in front of them moved out of the way, revealing another large door. This one was painted a simple black, and bore no carvings or designs of any sort. It opened automatically from the inside, and the guard behind them nudged Quin in the back with his gun.

  They stepped forward.

  “I see you made it,” Grise said. He looked older, with far more wrinkles than Quin remembered. His hair made a silver halo around a growing bald spot in the center of his head, and he sat at a large desk, elbows planted firmly on its surface and fingers laced. A young man stood directly behind Grise, his hands clasped behind his back. He looked vaguely familiar, but Quin focused his attention on his father.

  “You were expecting us,” he stated, not particularly surprised. It was all a game to Grise. A scowl crossed his features and stayed there, with no intention of leaving.

  “Of course!” Grise smiled. “I left you directions, after all.”

  “Oh, the book!” John exclaimed. “I forgot about it!” He began to rummage around in his shoulder bag, finally pulling out A Dialogue of Worlds. “Here’s the thing though: it’s not helpful when you leave your messages in made-up languages.”

  “You didn’t figure out the code? Do you mean to say you found me without the book?” Grise’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “You are smarter than I had anticipated, son.”

  Quin’s scowl deepened. Typical. His father had never been able to understand that ‘not book smart’ and ‘stupid’ weren’t the same thing. “What do you want?” he demanded.

  “You, of course.” Grise stood slowly and began to pace back and forth in front of the desk. The young man behind him stayed put, hands still clasped behind his back. His face maintained the same expression, but his eyes darted about nervously.

  “You are, in fact, my only heir,” Grise continued. “I have created a wonderful world, and I wanted someone to share it with. Logic, of course, dictates you. But, should you refuse, I have many other wonderful young people to choose from.”

  “Ahem,” John said, raising a finger. “I only have one problem with your previous statement.”

  Grise turned his eyes towards John with a look of mild amusement. “And what is that, John?”

  “You said that you’ve created a wonderful world, but the thing is… well, I noticed a few malfunctions.”

  Grise’s eyes darkened. The younger man that stood next to Grise stiffened as his face grew a concerned expression, and his eyes fixed on John.

  “For starters – that river has serious problems, largely that it’s virtual and not related to any known geological formations… which means, essentially, there’s a hole in your science which you’re trying to hide. Also the colours changing, the birds never landing, and the buildings being grown from the ground up, not to mention the very odd clouds… this planet is still in an inter-dimensional space, and if you try to move it with all of these people on it, you risk killing them all!”

  Slowly, Grise walked towards John and looked him in the eye. “Young man, I have been building planets for over five centuries – far longer than you have been alive. I think I know what is safe and what is not.” He turned to look at Quin. “Now, if you’ll all come with me – you too, Landon.” He gestured to the young man. “I have one more thing I wish to show you all before Quin beats up my guards and runs off. Again.”

/>   A small smile crossed Quin’s lips as he remembered the last time his father had spoken with him. Grise had hired four bodyguards, and all had been standing close by, a precaution he had taken when telling Quin of the truth behind his mother’s death.

  As a child, Quin had been told that she had gotten sick, but in reality, she had been a victim in a home intrusion and shooting. Grise had proceeded to explain that an angry politician had hired some thugs to break into their house and steal Grise’s research in order to sell the secrets of planet-building and Doors on the black market.

  This detail had simply been the final lie on a steaming pile made of decades of untruths. It had been a lifetime of secrecy and disappointment. Quin couldn’t take any more of it, especially not from the one person who was supposed to care about him the most.

  As soon as the story had left Grise’s lips, Quin had calmly strode forward, knocked out the first guard with one blow of his massive fist, tripped the second guard, flipped the third over his head and down on top of the second and then elbowed the fourth in the solar plexus and incapacitated him with a sharp blow to the back of the neck. Then he had turned his back on Grise, and walked out.

  They hadn’t spoken since.

  Behind the desk was a large blank piece of wall, with no paintings, carvings, or any sort of decoration – similar to the door to his office.

  “You may recognize this technique,” Grise said calmly as he walked forward and disappeared through the wall.

  Quin and John glanced at one another – the Door in Oliphant’s bookstore was hidden in the same manner: in plain sight. Then the young man, named Landon apparently, also vanished as he quickly followed Grise.

  “Move!” the soldiers commanded, and Quin strode quickly forward and stepped through the Door.

  14. A VIEW OF THE WHOLE

  It was excruciatingly green, the kind of green that makes you want to squint with its brightness, its vividness, its greenness. So Quin squinted, and as he gazed at the sight in front of him, other colours began to appear – some browns, some greys, little black hovering dots, and one vibrantly red stripe that carved down the middle of everything. The entire planet floated before him, in a bubble of grey – it appeared that the so-called ‘clouds’ which they had looked at from the surface of the planet were, in fact, the walls of the inter-dimensional space in which the planet floated.

  The room that they stood in was a planetary-development control room. It was different than the ones they used at the Globe; those were crisp and clean, the very definition of modern technology, but this one seemed to have been cobbled together from used and broken parts. Wires were visible everywhere, and keys had broken off the keyboards. Motherboards for the computers were visible, not safely hidden inside of their casings.

  “A bootlegged control room,” John noted coolly, a thin smile crossing his lips. “I would have thought you could have done better than this, Dad.”

  “It wasn’t necessary,” Grise replied, ignoring John’s pompous tone. “I wasn’t planning on having many visitors.”

  Quin glanced behind him. The guards hadn’t followed them through. Landon stood awkwardly next to a computer, looking back and forth nervously from John to Grise.

  “Take a good look, Quin,” Grise continued, “because this is your inheritance. All the money your mother left, all the money I earned from my inventions, all the money I’ve put aside for you over the years I poured into this wonderful, beautiful—”

  “Horrifically stupid idea that’s about to blow up in your face and several thousand million other people’s faces!” John interrupted harshly. “How could you do this? I mean, you’ve clearly been working on this for years, for a long time! But it only took me a few days of wandering around aimlessly to figure out what a mess you’ve gotten yourself into! If you don’t get this thing into orbit, Dad, it’s going to tear itself apart at the seams. And the polylocus Doors! What on earth possessed you to invent those?”

  Quin watched as John’s face got redder and redder and his voice louder and louder.

  “You know what happened to Antony’s planet – I know you do! It’s not like you haven’t been around the block a few hundred times or so! So what do you think will happen with these new Doors? We can’t possibly develop risk management scenarios for every single Door in the universe! It’s impossible! You know what, Dad, you’re insane, completely and utterly insane,” John gripped his hair with his fingers, “but for some reason, I think I’m going to end up saving your sorry ass, and then you know what? You know what? You’ll get away with it. Because that’s what you do. Get away with things. Yeah.”

  John’s voice petered out slightly as he gazed at the planet below. “And… and, just tell me – exactly how much time do we have?” A sudden quaver appeared in his voice.

  Grise took a deep breath. “Well, you’ve come just in time. I’d estimate approximately two hours.”

  John fell over – quite literally fainted.

  Quin didn’t move, but stared angrily at his father. Out of his peripheral, he noted that Landon took a nervous step backwards.

  “Why?” Quin asked harshly. “Why did you leave us messages, hoping that we would come and find you, while risking the lives of millions of people, assuming that we would make it here in time and be able to fix your bloody idiotic mistakes? Why didn’t you just ask?”

  A sad look crossed Grise’s face. “I didn’t think you would come,” he said. He turned to gaze at the planet below them. “I thought you would be too angry. About your mother. About me. About you.”

  Anger was the tip of the iceberg of Quin’s feelings. He was angry, yes – furious, in fact. He was also sad, disappointed, and violently, crushingly afraid, in a way he had never, ever experienced. He clenched his fists and began to take slow, deep breaths. This issue was no longer about him and his father. It didn’t matter what he thought or how he felt. All that mattered was that they solve this problem and spare the lives of millions of people from his father’s arrogant idiocy. And it appeared that the responsibility for this this nightmare now lay at the feet of him and his unconscious genius friend.

  “I am angry,” Quin stated. “At you.”

  He bent down and began to slap John’s cheeks gently. John groaned and his eyelids fluttered.

  “Wake up.” Grabbing John’s shoulders, Quin shook him.

  “Don’t want to,” John muttered. Then, all of a sudden, he sat straight up and began talking. He didn’t seem to be any worse for wear. “Less than two hours. Damn. Dad, you’re an idiot. I need paper, chalkboard, something. Tell me your whole process. Where are your numbers? I need everything and I need it as fast as you can possibly give it to me. Actually, that’s not true. I already figured out your base structural components – or something close to them – back at Meriym’s house. Did you build a moon? What star system are we going to? I need your Faucet Numbers and the linear equations you used to graph the geographic infinity codes. And you better hurry before I run out and hop on a plane into the middle of a desert somewhere!”

  Grise didn’t say anything, but simply gestured to Landon. The young man stepped forward timidly and handed John a book.

  “It’s all in here?” John asked. “How convenient.” He flipped it open and scowled. “Grise Franklin Black. This is in CODE. How the hell am I supposed to fix all of your problems and figure out how to read your bloody code in less than two hours?” He turned and angry stare towards the old man.

  “Oh, Landon will help you. That’s why he’s here,” Grise said nonchalantly.

  John turned to look at the boy standing over him. “You can read this?”

  “Yes, sir,” the boy replied.

  John took a deep breath and handed the book back. “Fine, since we have no other choice. You hang onto this and stay close.” He pulled himself up off the floor and turned back to Grise. “Okay, now where are the controls and how are you manipulating the switches? Also, Quin?”

  “Hm?”

 
“Sorry, but we’re going to have to get down to the surface as soon as it’s programmed. Not sure where though.”

  “Temple, in the village past Meriym’s,” Grise answered. “I tried to make it easy.” He then turned to a series of computers against the far wall and began to pull up some programs. After a moment, John took over, his fingers flashing on the keyboards and his tongue hanging out one side of his mouth. Landon stayed close, peering over John’s shoulder, eyes riveted on the screens. Grise watched for a moment, eyebrows raised, and then stepped back to stand by Quin.

  “He’s good,” Grise said. “Better than I ever was.”

  Quin didn’t respond.

  They stood in awkward silence for a few more minutes while John worked.

  “Don’t supposed you would want to come by for the Tree Festival this year? Thought we could look at some lights and then have dinner.”

  Quin still didn’t respond.

  After a few more minutes of awkward silence, Grise said, “well, I guess I’ll see if John needs help then,” and he stepped away from Quin.

  It was getting harder, Quin noticed, to shove down his feelings. Cadrelle, he was sure, had broken some sort of dam inside his head. This mission would be impossible if he kept getting distracted by things – like how his mother smelled, or the time she let him make s’mores in the gas fireplace in their living room, or the way Meriym smelled… See? he said to himself. You’re just getting distracted. Focus. Another little voice in the back of his head pushed its way forward.

  You know, it said, there’s another way to make feelings less bothersome.

  What’s that? Quin thought.

  Address them, the little voice said insolently, and then disappeared.

  Quin scowled at his brain. Yes, that could work, of course, but he wasn’t sure now was the time. The planet could explode at any second, and kill, at minimum, thousands of people, and at worst, millions or billions. This was not time to be giving himself a psychiatric evaluation. He decided to distract himself.

  “Grise,” he said with a steady voice.

  Grise turned around hopefully.

  “Why so many youth?” He gestured towards Landon who was still gazing with rapt attention over John’s shoulder.

  “Oh yes,” John called from the depths of his work. “I’d like to know that too!”

  “I thought perhaps one of them would be brilliant enough to save the planet,” Grise replied calmly. “I invited thousands of young men and women from all planets to come and join my school, where I would teach them and train them to be the best and the brightest. In exchange, they would gain valuable life skills that they could take back to their homes with them – once they finished their education, of course. Landon here is, of course, the brightest, and so became my assistant.”

  “What planets?” Quin asked.

  “Great Forest on the Bay, of course,” Grise said. “And Torialles, Mara, Cadrelle…”

  Scowling, Quin noted that all of the planets he had named so far had been involved in the Great War.

  “Needhar, Closian, New Song of Four Moons…”

  “Stop.” Quin shook his head, feeling suspicious. “When were you planning on letting the children go home?”

  “When they finished their schooling, of course,” Grise said, acting confused as to the line of questioning.

  “Did you come across any other particularly promising students? Besides Landon?” John interrupted. He didn’t seem to be suspicious of Grise’s story at all.

  “There was one young boy,” Grise mused, “but he was young, probably too young to be of use. And he ran away. He didn’t seem to like it here.”

  “Where was he from?” Quin asked.

  “Cadrelle.”

  “What was his name?”

  At this, John turned to look at Grise with extreme curiosity written all over his face.

  “Why, if I remember correctly, I believe it was Kip.”

  There it was again – the anger. It was roiling and boiling inside of him, a raging power that threatened to overwhelm his good sense and behavioral control. If he couldn’t control his behavior, he didn’t deserve to be respected by even the lowliest of the low. He took a deep breath. If the emotions couldn’t be hidden and contained, than the little voice was right – they had to be addressed.

  “Grise,” Quin said softly. “I think that you are a sorry excuse for a person. Your values and morals are twisted and misguided. You consistently step on the heads and faces of other people just to advance your own goals – and those people include myself and my mother.” His voice slowly got louder and more confident. “You never cared for anyone but yourself, and at the point at which I needed you most, when Mom died, you decided that your new girlfriend, your job, and your alcohol were more important than me.” Quin took a deep breath and realized that some of his tension was easing.

  He continued. “And this… this scheme that you’ve somehow pieced together is the lowest you have ever come. It is a despicable example of how inconsiderate, selfish, and arrogant you have become. That you would steal children from a war zone and force them to be educated in your school. That you would open up gates to worlds that others didn’t know existed in exchange for information; that you would sell the secrets of Door technology so that immature cultures could rape and maim other cultures in their quest for power and money. I find you detestable. You gave me life, food, and a place to live, but you are not and never will be a father to me.”

  All of the colour had drained from Grise’s face.

  “If I didn’t need you,” he hissed. “I would have you killed instantly. You think you can speak to me that way? I am your father, whether you admit it or not, and I demand that you respect me. You don’t know as much as you think you do. You have no idea what I’ve done or why I’ve done it, and I have done nothing that shouldn’t have been done years ago. You are the one who is inconsiderate, selfish, and arrogant, and you are still young and stupid to boot! You far less intelligent than I ever was, and you have absolutely no right to judge me. Whether you believe it or not, I always loved your mother.”

  This was it, Quin realized. This was the conversation they had never had after mom had died – the one where Quin had said, “I need you, Dad,” and the one where his dad had said, “I need you, too.” But that conversation had never happened, and so instead, they were having this one, in which Quin said, “How could you, Dad?” and Grise said, “How could I not?” Quin also realized that he was disappointed. Up until this point he had harbored hope that his father’s intentions had been good, clean, and honest. That he had really wanted to share knowledge, and that he had wanted to save lost children. But the more angles that Quin saw it from, the more people he saw hurt – parents looking for their lost children; Kate desperately searching for her brother; Meriym thrown from her home as her family and friends were killed; Kip psychologically abused at Grise’s hands; the people in the village and in this city of knowledge unaware of the imminent doom which awaited them in less than two hours.

  There was no other way to put it: his father was selfish, greedy, and a malignant sore on the face of intelligent life. He wondered if Grise deserved to die.

  After several more deep breaths, Quin managed to calm his wildly erratic emotions. Grise was still staring at him with anger and frustration, waiting for Quin’s reply. Instead, Quin turned to John.

  “When will it be ready?” he asked calmly. In his peripheral, he saw Grise’s face reddening, and the vein in his neck beginning to throb.

  John was not working any more, but gazing wide-eyed at Quin and his father. Beside him, Landon’s eyes were also wide, and he looked terrified and more than a little confused. He looked like a mouse caught between two tigers, unsure of whether to sit perfectly still or to run as fast as he could.

  “Oh, uh… two minutes, give me two minutes.” John turned back to the computers, and his fingers began to fly once more.

  Quin stood calmly, waiting. He felt relieved t
hat he had admitted his feelings towards his father, but he felt uncomfortable – he had been blatantly disrespectful, and although he believed all of the things he had said, he wasn’t sure that he should have said them. Despite this, the important thing was not his relationship with Grise. The important thing was fixing the planet. The important thing was preventing the death of millions.

  “Ready,” John said, interrupting Quin’s thoughts. He stood and held out a small black box. “This needs to be plugged into the central input to the planet’s data core. After it is plugged in, it will need to be configured with the correct mathematical formulae, allowing the planet, the inter-dimensional space around us, and the computers to correctly align the position of the planet in orbit around the sun. You probably didn’t notice, but it is already spinning,” John gestured towards the planet below them, “but it will jerk when it drops into orbit. That plus the movement through the Door – which is how it gets placed into its solar system – will cause earthquakes and other natural disasters.” He turned to Grise. “You are responsible for ensuring that the people in the city are secure – Quin, I want you to raise the alert when you get to town, so that Meriym and all the other people get to their safe house. Of course, there is no guarantee that they’ll survive, but it’s better than nothing.”

  Quin nodded, feeling his muscles tighten. It sounded like he was in for a jog.

  “The central input to the planet’s data core is in the temple in the middle of the village. Dad?”

  Gritting his teeth, Grise looked at Quin. “Walk down the center aisle to the dais. In the center of the dais is a table. Beneath the table is a lock. The key code is 11256731. Landon, you go with him. You know where it is.”

  Landon nodded silently.

  Quin frowned at the sequence of numbers. “Mom’s birthday,” he muttered.

  “Correct. When you have entered the key code, a small arm will slide out, at the end of which you will see a jack that aligns with the jack on that black box. Hook them together. Then John will have to configure the box.”

  John nodded at the book that Landon held.

  “Take that with you, too, and Landon, be ready to start reading as soon as I get there. I have to build the switch box and set it up on this end before I can meet you there. I want everything to be ready when I get there. Can you handle that?”

  Raising one eyebrow, Quin simply nodded.

  “Yeah, yeah,” John muttered. “Don’t look at me like that. Just get going! You too, Dad– get the people in the city into safer places.”

  Without a word, Grise turned and stepped through the Door.

  “Are you sure this will work?” Quin asked.

  “No,” John said shortly. “But let me tell you, if it does, I am going to personally murder your father.”

  “I’ll help,” Quin replied, tucking the black box under his arm. He gestured to Landon, and then followed the young man through the Door.

  15. THE TEMPLE OF LIFE

  As soon as Quin’s foot hit the wooden bridge, he began to run, barely noticing the strange and brilliant hues of grey and brown and green that surrounded him. The rushing wind blocked out most other sounds, and he focused on each lungful of air he breathed in and out. The birds flew high over his head, and the river still gurgled and bubbled, but his mind was on reaching Meriym and making sure she was safe, and then healing the broken planet on which he stood.

  Behind him, Landon did not even try to keep up; he just jogged in Quin’s wake, the distance between them rapidly widening. Quin had no concern for him. He would catch up eventually.

  The house stood comfortably on the hill, and Quin reached it as fast as he could. He banged with his fist on the door, but no one answered. Probably they were all down at the festival, as they had talked about earlier in the day. He hoped everyone had gone to town, because it would be easier to ensure their safety that way… or would it?

  He left the house and began to sprint towards the colourful town, past the green blades of grass, past the hedge that lined the hill, past the cheerfully coloured houses and the spherical balls of light. The village seemed to be oddly quiet for a festival, although as he reached the main part of town and began to slow down, he noticed that the lamp posts and store fronts were decorated with green and silver streamers. There were even a few balloons here and there. But there were no people.

  Swallowing nervously, Quin made his way towards the temple. His fear and déjà vu had tripled, and he began to sense that something was wrong, but he knew that fixing the planet was the only way he would be able to find out what the problem was. Without a planet, there would also be no him, no Meriym, no problems at all. When those were his options, he preferred the problems.

  He slowed, sweat dripping from his bald head, and strode forward silently. The temple was a tall stone building with smooth walls that had grown from the ground just like the other buildings. It had a tower rising from the center with a bell in it, and compared to the other buildings, this one was far more intricate in terms of architecture and design. This was not, however, a good time for dwelling on beauty. The doors creaked open slowly, and inside the church he saw hundreds of people sitting quietly, staring at the stage. As he stepped inside, each and every face turned to look at him.

  “Finally,” a woman’s voice proclaimed. “You have decided to make an appearance.”

  The first thing he noticed standing on the dais was a bear – seven feet tall standing on its hind legs and easily eight-hundred pounds. Beside the bear stood a tall, regal woman in a long elegant gown – the one who had spoken. On her other side, Quin recognized Isabel and her panther, Betsy, who stood growling at Quin.

  “What are you doing here?” Quin asked.

  “I have come for you,” the woman with the bear said.

  “This is Althea,” Isabel said. “My mother.”

  Quin was confused about a few things. For instance, why had they come here? Why were they waiting for him? And how was he going to get past them to complete his objective? He decided to take the most direct route.

  “The planet is about to explode, and I don’t have time for this,” he exclaimed, stepping forward.

  The bear and the panther both growled deep in their throats, and Quin halted abruptly. He definitely wouldn’t be able to solve the problem if he was dead.

  “I’m sorry,” Althea said, stepping off the dais and moving up the aisle towards him. “But you owe me a fight.”

  “A fight?” Quin asked. “Isabel gave us permission to leave.”

  “But you didn’t take it. You took the fight.” A small smile slithered across her lips and a gleam of excitement shone in her eyes. “That means you fight.”

  “How did you know I would be here?” Quin asked. He stared at her high cheekbones and glittering eyes – this was the face of a madwoman.

  She laughed and the sound bounced off of the high ceilings and walls. “Oh, my dear boy – you don’t think we didn’t know who you were the second you stepped into our kingdom, did you? You are Grise’s son, and he told me you would be here.”

  “He told you.” Quin was growing concerned. He wasn’t sure he could fight a bear and a panther, and still get the black box plugged into the data core in time for the crisis. What had Grise been thinking? Blast the old man.

  “Yessss,” she purred. “Of course, he told me to wait until this afternoon, but who am I to take orders from a little old man?” She laughed again.

  Quin had thought that this building would be the safest for the people of the city, but now it appeared to be the most dangerous.

  “How about we let all of these nice people go finish their festival in the armory,” he suggested. “And then I’ll—”

  “No!” A sneer wiped all other expressions from Althea’s features. “These people are my hostages! I will do as I please with them, until you agree to fight.” She snapped her fingers and her bear lumbered down from the dais and, in a very human-like manner, grabbed a small child from the audience.
Quin swallowed. It was Kip.

  “Let him go,” Quin hissed.

  “Agree to fight or I will begin chopping off fingers.”

  Kip was crying now, fighting against the bear, and Quin could see Meriym in the front row, reaching out her arms to Kip and encouraging him to be silent. As his eyes scanned the room, he could see expressions of fear, hope, and confusion on the faces of the villagers. He picked out Tobias, Madam Barooth, Timothy, and the man with the horns from the crowd. He turned his attention back to Althea.

  “Why?” Quin pushed. “Just tell me why.”

  Althea’s eyes narrowed as she leaned towards him. “Insolence is not tolerated! I need not explain myself to anyone, let alone those that were created for my entertainment. You agreed to fight and I demand that you fight! My prey will not get away from me that easily!”

  Quin was astonished by the vehemence in her voice, and again thought, just for a moment, that she might be crazy. His mind began to process the scene around him rapidly. There were too many people – he had to get them out, or at least take the fight away from them. He also had to get the black box to the stage and Kip away from the bear.

  At that moment, the temple doors flew open and slammed closed behind a small figure.

  “Well, if it isn’t my little terrier,” Althea breathed, grinning. “I am so glad she will get to witness this wonderful occasion.”

  “Quin,” Kate yelled. She was gasping for air, as if she had just run a long way. “Don’t…”

  The temple door opened again, cutting her short. Landon strolled through. He frowned and looked around at all the people.

  “On the dais,” Quin stated, hoping Landon would understand; then, shifting his attention back to Althea, he said: “I will fight.”

  Twisting her hands in glee, Althea grinned. “In front of a crowd, in front of my terrier, and in front of Grise’s best man – this is better than I could have dreamed.”

  “What happens if I win?” Quin asked.

  He could hear Kate yelling, “Quin, don’t fight!” but he ignored her.

  Althea’s laugh bounced off the walls and ceiling, and this time Isabel’s cheese-grater-on-cement laugh joined in.

  “Win,” Althea repeated, breaking into peals of laughter. “This has never happened. Now, forward!” She pointed towards the front of the temple. Quin set the black box on the ground and looked back at Landon. The young man swallowed and nodded.

  Quin stepped towards the dais.

  The table Grise had spoken of was indeed in the center of the room. If Landon was brave enough, he could plug the black box into the dais while Quin distracted the bear and the crazy queen of Great Forest on the Bay. Also in the front of the room were several large stone chairs, a chandelier which hung low from the high ceiling, and several implements which he imagined were for some sort of incomprehensible ritual. In front of the dais were five more chairs with lower backs, and in them sat frightened-looking priestesses. One of them looked familiar. Quin squinted and then realized – the women from Pomegranate City that had commented on the rainbow – they were the leaders of the Life Stars and they were here.

  Grise’s conspiracy had deeply rooted itself in his own culture at home on Sagitta. A rush of anger surged, but he pushed it down and turned his attention to the eight-foot-tall bear.

  “Let go of the boy!” Quin commanded striding forward.

  The bear listened this time, and swatted Kip back into the arms of Meriym.

  Meriym gasped, and reached out to grab Kip as his small body collided with hers. She tumbled to the floor, holding him in a tight embrace and looking back towards Quin with a terrified expression on her face.

  He jumped up onto the dais and moved forward until he was face to face with the bear. Isabel and Betsy stood off to one side, but Quin had no doubts that they would move in to finish him off if Quin managed to beat the bear.

  For thirty interminable seconds, Quin stood nose to nose with the bear. It snuffled and snorted like an animal, but Quin could see a deep intelligence lying behind its eyes. It knew what was happening and it was hungry for blood, yet still wanted to please its master. The poor animal. Quin turned and looked at the audience, keeping his attention focused on his peripheral, on the bear.

  “Let them all leave,” he requested again.

  “No!” Althea screamed.

  “If you don’t, I will lie down and let your bear kill me without fighting.” Quin hoped that she was insane enough to want the fight more than the kill – that she wanted the terror, the fear, and the adrenaline too.

  He could see her face turning red and her hands clenching into fists. She was angry and Quin was making her angrier. Then, a door on the side of the room opened, and William Oliphant walked out.

  “Where have you been?” Althea demanded. Quin began searching for an opening while her attention was focused on the rotund bookseller.

  Oliphant flinched.

  “Doing what you told me,” he muttered.

  “We have him,” she said, gesturing violently towards the stage. “He’s negotiating to let our prisoners leave.”

  As Oliphant leaned forward and whispered something in her ear, Quin noticed Landon slipping up the side of the room towards the dais, black box in hand. Kate was right behind him with a very strange expression on her face.

  His attention snapped back to the Queen as a sneering smile bled across her lips.

  “Isabel,” she commanded, pointing at Meriym. Isabel nodded, and she and the panther jumped down from the dais and made their way rapidly towards Meriym.

  “She is my hostage now,” Althea stated, turning back to Quin. “You will fight the bear and these people will watch, or she and the boy will die.”

  Quin could see Meriym rapidly shaking her head in the front row.

  “Don’t do it,” she mouthed, clutching Kip tightly in her arms. The panther sat at her feet, staring up at her and growling deep in its throat. Kip was crying.

  Quin turned back and faced the bear, who slowly rose up onto its hind legs. He couldn’t let Althea hurt Meriym. It looked like fighting was his only option.

  At eight feet, the bear’s face was more than a head and shoulders over Quin. He gazed up into its eyes; they were angry and hostile, and it was clearly ready to spit and claw and bite. Stepping back, Quin shifted his weight onto the balls of his feet and began to circle around the bear. Presumably, while the bear was quite experienced at ripping people apart, it was not good at Kramandu Stealth fighting or any other sort of martial fighting styles. Of course, he shouldn’t assume this either – it was Althea’s bear, and you could never know how much training it had, although you could be reasonably sure that all of its trainers were dead.

  The bear began to circle as well, and Althea let out a howl of laughter. She really was insane, Quin decided, and probably ought to get locked up. Darting forward, Quin reached up and smacked the bear across its nose, and then hurriedly backed away. It growled and snorted, baring its teeth at Quin. It shifted the position of its arms – the next time Quin came within distance, it would grab him in a quite painful hug which included extraordinarily large and sharp teeth and claws.

  They continued to circle, Quin watching the bear’s every move and the bear waiting for him to go on the offensive. Finally, Quin heard Althea sigh loudly, and with that as his only warning, the bear dropped down onto all fours and lunged forward. Quin leaped backward just in time, the bear’s teeth coming within inches of his leg. Quickly, he shifted his weight forward and brought his knee up quickly, hitting the underside of the bear’s jaw with a powerful blow. The bear growled angrily deep in its throat, and Quin winced, stumbling. It felt like he had slammed his knee into a brick wall – this bear was solid. He heard Meriym gasp from her place in the audience over top of a rustle of sounds that came from everyone else in the room.

  The thought brushed through his mind that these people were amazingly calm for such a large group being held hostage, though a few children cried
and whimpered in the audience. He wondered what Althea had done to terrify them into submission before he had shown up.

  Quin took a few steps back from the bear, but it was lunging towards him again. This time, Quin sidestepped the bear and swung one leg over its back, latching on like a rider. He grabbed it around the neck and squeezed as hard as he could. The bear responded by rising up on all fours and trying to throw Quin off. It reached up with its claws and Quin felt them rip open the skin on his arms. He held on more tightly, trying to restrict the bear’s breathing. The bear dropped back down on all fours and began to shake wildly, like a wet dog. Quin’s whole body was rammed back and forth. He grimaced, but after a few moments his grip began to slip and he was thrown across the stage.

  He slammed into the floor with a painful crash. Though slightly dizzy, Quin scrambled to his feet as the bear turned and began to run towards him again. When the bear reached him, Quin was ready, and kicked him sharply in the face. The bear turned aside, growling ferociously, and then swung around to face him again. Again, Quin kicked him in the face, then reached out and poked him in one eye. Without hesitation, the bear lunged forward and clenched his large teeth down on Quin’s arm. Quin gritted his teeth and froze, unsure of how to proceed. He couldn’t rip his arm away, couldn’t punch the bear, couldn’t…

  At that moment the doors to the temple burst open wide, and John wandered in saying, “Quin, did you get that thing taken care of? We only have—”

  He broke off in mid-thought as he gazed at the tableau in front of him: Althea giddily watching the fight before her; Isabel and Betsy guarding Meriym and Kip; and Quin’s arm clenched in the jaws of a massive grizzly bear. John apparently decided to take the most ridiculous approach he could think of. He laughed.

  “Oh how amusing,” he commented, striding forward until he came face to face with Althea. “Putting on some sort of show for the folks of the village. How entertaining. But really, Quin, you should know better – we have important things to accomplish.” He glanced around again. “Oh good, I see Landon is at least making an effort to get this problem fixed!”

  Quin felt a brief moment of relief, despite the wave of pain hitting him like a tsumami. He gritted his teeth and held his breath. He began to wish desperately that John wasn’t so verbose, that he would hurry up and figure out a way to release Quin from the bear.

  Althea glared at John.

  “Who are you?” she demanded.

  “I think I should be asking you that question!” John responded. “Tell your bear to get his big dirty teeth off my friend or I will blow up this planet!”

  A sneer crossed Althea’s face. “You can’t do that,” she said confidently.

  The ground began to rumble. Althea frowned andturned a shade paler.

  Quin could see beads of sweat beginning to pile up on John’s forehead. John was obviously feeling nervous that he wouldn’t make it in time.

  “Shows how much you know,” he retorted. “Now tell your bloody idiot dog to let go of my friend!”

  She stared at John angrily, but the earth rumbled again. She swallowed, and snapped her fingers; Quin felt the painful pressure ease as the bear released his arm. Deep gouges from the bear’s teeth crisscrossed his skin and muscle, and he gritted his teeth as the blood came rushing out. He pulled off his shirt and as carefully as he could, wrapped it around the wounds. He noticed, as John moved forward, that Oliphant was quietly slipping towards the back of the room.

  “Now that we have that settled,” John brushed past Althea and climbed the steps until he stood on the dais. “Where is the…?” He looked at Quin meaningfully.

  Quin pointed at Landon as he finished bandaging his arm.

  The young man had opened the compartment and was attaching the black box.

  “I don’t remember the code – I’ll need it again to activate.” John walked over to the large table in the middle of the room and bent down. He pulled out the designed by Anthony D’Marko’s son, stolen from the Pomegranate City government, and attached it to some wires sticking out of the box. People in the pews of the temple began to whisper in hushed voices.

  “11256731,” Quin replied through gritted teeth. He stood up slowly and, pushing the aches and pains of his battered body out of his mind, walked over to where John knelt next to the marble table. Landon was holding the book open.

  “Just let me know when,” he said softly to John.

  John nodded.

  Quin looked at Kate, who stood behind Landon with the strange expression still on her face.

  “Kate,” Quin said quietly, “we’re going to need to keep these people calm.”

  She nodded and headed down towards the rows of people.

  The ground rumbled again, this time more loudly. People began to whisper and shift around uneasily.

  “Excuse me,” John said loudly, standing up. “I know you are all technically prisoners anyway,” he said as he shot Althea a glare, “But for this next bit, I think you will be safest if you stay inside. Don’t run away. If you have any problems, ask that nice woman right there.” He gestured at Kate, knelt back down again next to Landon, and plugged in the code into black box. The box opened to reveal a series of switches.

  “Okay, Landon,” John stated. “It’s time for the book. Quin, you take care of things here. This should only take a few minutes, but we have to hurry.”

  Quin nodded and turned to face the queen again.

  “If you wouldn’t mind,” he said, gesturing towards Meriym and Kip, “letting them go?”

  “No!” Althea exclaimed. “You still owe me a death and they are my collateral!”

  The ground shook again, this time for a longer duration and with more intensity. The chatter among the people in the room grew louder. The bear began to click its teeth together, and backed towards to the edge of the stage until it was closer to Althea.

  “Uh oh,” John muttered, fumbling with the little black box.

  “What’s wrong?” Quin whispered, bending back down.

  “I don’t know if I can do the math fast enough. I know Dad said we had a full two hours, but by my estimate, we have about five minutes.”

  “What can I do?”

  “Just… make sure no one bothers me, and try to keep people calm. The earthquakes are only going to get worse before they get better.”

  “Can I help?” Landon asked.

  “Can you read to me from the book and do math at the same time?” John asked.

  Landon shook his head. “I’m sorry – doing math in my head was never my strong point.”

  “Okay,” John replied. “Well, just do the best you can with the book.”

  The ground began to shudder without stopping. It was as if they were standing on top of a massive, shivering beast. People were crying and holding each other in fear. The bear leaped off the stage and went to stand close to Althea. Then, as Quin watched, Isabel and the panther both turned to look at Althea, who had begun petting and crooning to her bear. Their focus had completely shifted away from Meriym and Kip.

  Kate appeared suddenly, leaping up onto the dais.

  “Quin,” she said. “We may have another problem.”

  “What is it?” he asked tersely.

  “I overheard Isabel and one of her advisors planning a coup. I thought she might wait until after the fight, but now that everything is chaos, it makes sense that she would move while the opportunity is ripe.”

  He nodded. “Thank you. Keep your eye on them if you can. And try to do something about that screaming child in the back row.”

  “Not sure much can be done,” she muttered, but leaped off the dais and began to jog to the back of the sanctuary.

  The shaking and rocking of the ground began to worsen. The chandelier high above their heads swung back and forth. Quin watched it nervously, hoping that the chain that fastened it to the ceiling didn’t have any weak points.

  He began a scan of the room, but something caught his attention. It was Althea, nodding s
ubtly to Isabel. Immediately Betsy leaped onto stage, heading directly for John. Without even thinking, Quin moved, dashing towards the rapidly moving panther and slamming his shoulder into her as she flew by, with all of the force and strength he could muster. The two bodies went crashing into the wall, and for a moment, all Quin could see was black.

  As his consciousness returned, he heard Meriym and Kip screaming. The panther was underneath him and he felt her shift.

  “No,” Quin hissed, desperately hoping that the panther could both hear him and was capable of making her own decisions. “The planet will explode without John. He isn’t causing it.”

  The panther shifted again, and this time wobbled to its feet, knocking Quin to the floor. Quin drew his strength together and pulled himself to his feet as the panther took off again. But this time he was annoyed to see the panther moving quickly towards Althea instead, who was not paying any attention. Isabel had left Meriym and Kip and was headed their way as well. It looked like the coup was about to begin.

  Here we go, Quin thought, and turned to see Meriym and Kip and rushing onto the stage. Meriym flew into Quin’s arms and hugged him tightly around his chest. He kept his eyes on the animals and their mistresses over Meriym’s head. Kate had been right; they were watching and waiting for the other to make a move.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, still watching the royal situation that was about to explode.

  “We’re fine,” she replied. “But what about you? That awful animal bit you! And you were unconscious!”

  “I’ll be fine. How about Kip?”

  Meriym turned to see where he went. He was crouched on the floor next to John and Landon, listening to the older boy and signing. Unfortunately, John was too engrossed in his work to notice Kip’s signing. Quin let go of Meriym and moved closer. He bent down to get John’s attention, when suddenly he heard, “Twenty-seven. Forty-two. Eight-thousand-ninety-one.” Kip was speaking!

  Meriym gasped and put her hand over her mouth in surprise, not wanting to interrupt.

  “How do you do that so fast?” John asked. His fingers moved across the switches as fast as Kip could say numbers.

  “Three-hundred-seven. Four. Ten-thousand-twenty-five. Sixty-one.”

  “No, wait, go back. You forgot the Hamstead coefficient on that one.”

  “Seventy-one,” Kip amended.

  Quin shook his head. John thought Kip was fast, but he was calculating just as quickly, or else he wouldn’t be able to check Kip’s math. He glanced over; Althea and the bear were huddled together and Isabel and the panther looked as if they were about to strike.

  “What is happening?” Meriym asked, looking around with a very concerned expression.

  “I think Kip has found a way to be useful, despite the earthquake and the coup…” Quin trailed off, as another massive quake shook the floor.

  This time, people screamed, and Meriym grabbed his good arm so she wouldn’t fall over. The bear roared and the panther leaped forward to attack it in its fear-stricken state. At the same time, Isabel attacked Althea head on, and the two began to engage in a very dramatic and artful style of hand-to-hand combat. Feet and hands flew and were blocked by arms and legs. Both scowled fiercely, but Isabel, being the younger and stronger of the two, seemed to be pulling ahead. As he watched, Althea suddenly turned the fight around, mimicking a weakness in her left side and luring Isabel to attack. As Isabel went for it, Althea brought her elbow down on the back of Isabel’s neck. The daughter fell to her knees, coughing, but was back up on her feet a short moment later, once again dodging kicks from her mother.

  The panther and the bear began to roll over one another, growling, scratching and biting. It was a strange sight; due to the difference in size, the panther seemed to crawl all over the bear, almost like a snake. People in the audience began to stand up and move away hastily, trying to avoid being an accidental casualty in a battle for sovereignty. Kate ran around directing people into the safer places in the room and helping them avoid the worst of the chaos.

  The building began to shake even harder, and Meriym ran over to Kip, putting her body over top of him to protect him from any falling rubble. Quin watched as all of a sudden, the floor cracked in two. The bear and the panther were thrown across the room and slammed into the wall. People screamed and ran, trying to avoid being crushed by an 800 pound animal. Isabel and Althea were more graceful, and leaped away from the crack, landing in more defensible positions. It was as if the fact that the planet was breaking apart at the seams didn’t matter at all to them.

  “No, no, no, no, no,” Quin heard John mutter, shaking his head. “I don’t know if we’ll make it. Come on, come on!” His fingers flew, equations streamed from Landon’s mouth as he read from the book, and the numbers coming from Kip seemed incomprehensibly fast.

  Quin gazed out at the people before him. Everyone was terrified, screaming and clutching at one another. One man ran to the doors and opened one, but the sky was an angry torrent of blue wind and impossible weather. He shut the door quickly. Some people crouched down beneath the pews. Others bent their heads in prayer.

  “What is happening?”

  Quin turned to see the priestess from Pomegranate City standing next to him. Her white gown was covered in dust, and she looked furious.

  “What have you done to anger the gods this way?”

  “Nothing,” Quin said. “That out there isn’t the work of gods, but of men. If there are gods, and they care about you, then you will be alive when all of this is done. If they’re not there, you may survive anyway, or you may not, and that is just the way of the world.” He couldn’t believe he was having this conversation in the middle of an earthquake.

  He braced himself against another rumble, but she toppled over, and then crawled back towards her seat. He wondered what she thought of his answer.

  Then he heard John shout, and there was an interminable blackness and suddenly he felt as though he couldn’t breathe, couldn’t hear, couldn’t see – all of his senses were muted as he floated in the dark, endless nothingness of time.

  16. OUT OF ORBIT

  It was exactly ten seconds – Quin counted – until the blackness disappeared and the steely grey stone walls of the temple loomed before him once again. A huge gasp of air filled the room as everyone took a simultaneous breath. It was the first time Quin had travelled through a Door and yet managed to end up in the same place as before. The priestess who lay on her stomach near him gasped, breathing in a deep lungful of air. She climbed to her knees, coughing.

  He turned to look at John. John was grinning wildly, his hair a mess and his tie askew, but he was happier than Quin had ever seen him.

  “Alive!” he shouted, doing a little jig from his seat on the floor. “Woohoo!” Next to him, Landon collapsed, exhausted, and Kip wore a brilliant grin which revealed two missing front teeth.

  Quin smiled a little and then turned back towards the room. Isabel and Althea had fallen apart as they moved through the Door, and Althea had sunk to the floor, grasping her chest and gasping for air. Quin watched as Isabel stood and went to her mother, but before he could even react, she pulled out a knife and stabbed her mother in the heart – once, twice, three times. Althea was dead.

  The bear let out a howl of agony. It was one of the most dreadfully heart-wrenching and terrifying sounds Quin had ever heard.

  Screams filled the room, and the innocent captives made a break for the door of the temple, suddenly less afraid to face the storm outside than a murderer and an angry bear inside. But when they opened the door, the sky was a vibrant blue and the sun shone warmly on their faces. They streamed out in hordes, and in no time the temple was empty, except for a few stragglers.

  Quin jumped off of the stage and ran towards Isabel. He halted as she waved her knife at him.

  “You stay back,” she hissed. “I have rightfully succeeded my mother as Queen of Great Forest on the Bay!”

  She snapped her fingers and Betsy was by her s
ide in an instant. Quin tensed, ready to fight.

  “I’m leaving,” she said, “and you are never, ever welcome in my kingdom again!”

  Then she threw the knife at Quin. He dodged and they ran towards the open door; but when he looked up, a dark figure stood in the doorway, blocking her path.

  “Get out of my way, you defective son-of-a-miserable-witch quilk,” Isabel spit.

  Quin wondered what quilk meant. It probably had to do with Wolf not having an animal.

  Wolf growled deep in his throat. The sound was both a warning and an acknowledgment. “What have you done?”

  “I have rightfully taken the throne,” she replied. “Now get out of my way or Betsy will take care of your sorry face once and for all. You are lucky that this family has tolerated you for this long!”

  Wolf’s growl this time was deep and threatening, angry and sad all at once, but he moved out of her way, and Quin watched as a murderer disappeared into the new, innocent world of Path.

  It was at this moment that Quin noticed the bear. While it had been relatively quiet during the exchange between himself and Isabel, it now slowly picked its way around the massive crack in the floor until it reached Althea’s lifeless body. It sniffed for a moment, and nudged her with its massive paw. Then it let out a howl like no howl Quin had ever heard, and began to stomp its feet. Harder and harder its paws slammed against the stone floor, until it went berserk, flinging its head back and forth, running and leaping across the pews, and smashing anything it could reach. It was frothing at the mouth, and the noises it made were nearly demonic.

  Quin stepped back in awe of the massive physical power pouring from the muscles of the bear and the intense emotional power evident in its screams. Behind him he heard Meriym let out a muffled sob and he shook his head in frustration. Meriym, Kip, Landon, Kate, and John were the only people left in the temple, and they were, as it turned out, the only ones he cared about. Then the bear turned and began to make its way towards him. Swallowing, Quin adopted a wrestling stance, and waited as the bear thundered closer. He had to stall it long enough for the other three to get out.

  “Run!” he shouted over his shoulder. There was no telling what the bear would do once it got past him.

  But the bear never reached him. Wolf leaped from the pews onto the bear’s back. The wolf-man and the bear began to wrestle, rolling and growling around the room, angry and angrier. Wolf bit the bear on the neck, and Quin saw blood begin to flow. The bear returned the gesture by swiping its paws against Wolf’s back, drawing three bright red stripes. Wolf howled and spun around to face the bear again.

  For years afterwards, Quin replayed this fight in his mind, certain he had gotten something wrong, because the next thing that happened was that the bear lay down. Wolf’s fist flew forward, smashing it on the nose, and then the bear lay down on its back and crossed its arms. Wolf straddled the bear, crying and sobbing and beating its chest. Then, still crying, Wolf reached out and used his massive, animal-like strength to cover the nose and mouth of the bear, suffocating it.

  Horrified, Quin stood frozen, realizing that this must be what they did to the animals whose people died. The bear seemed to accept it, in a strange way, though its body jerked and twisted as it tried to breathe. A few moments more and Wolf released the bear’s head, and then lay down next to the bear, whispering to it.

  Pushing down an overwhelming sense of sorrow, Quin turned to see Meriym, John, and Kip peeking over the table in terrified awe at the scene before them. Landon and Kate were hugging each other, eyes wide. Meriym had tears streaming from her eyes and John had reached over – too late – to cover Kip’s eyes.

  “We need to go,” Quin said as a general statement to everyone.

  Kate cleared her throat, and Quin turned and looked at her and Landon, still hugging.

  “Thank you,” she said.

  Quin frowned.

  “This is my brother,” she whispered calmly, but her eyes were brimming with exhaustion, happiness, and love.

  Surprised, the tall, black warrior gazed at them for a moment, and then let a small smile cross his lips. Who would have guessed that something so good would happen amid the most ridiculous situation he had ever experienced?

  “Congratulations!” he said.

  John cleared his throat and said, “Oliphant.”

  “Where?” Quin turned.

  The pudgy bookseller stood in the doorway gazing at sobbing Wolf and the still bear in horror.

  “I… I…” he stuttered. “I was only gone for a few minutes!?”

  “Gone where?” Quin demanded.

  “Just telling Grise that his plan was succeeding.”

  “He wanted me to fight the bear?”

  “Oh, I don’t know about that. He only told me to make sure you made it here. And you did. What happened?” His face was confused, worried, anxious, and upset all at the same time.

  “Isabel has succeeded Althea, I believe,” John explained, crossing his arms. “And I would imagine that access to their library is going to be severely limited for you for the time being. Forever, if I have anything to say about it.”

  “No, but, what happened?” he asked again, this time gesturing broadly to the entire world around them in general.

  “Oh, that.” A bemused expression crossed John’s face. “Yeah, well, you see, Dad probably didn’t tell you this, but he sort of mis-planned this whole ‘build a planet’ thing, and accidentally let people on it before putting it in orbit! Bloody idiot.” He shook his head. “And you—” He stalked down the aisle until he reached Oliphant and poked the bookseller in the chest with his index finger. “—you didn’t help! You gave Dad all of the illegal and protected material he needed to build a non-functioning planet and risk the lives of everyone on it, in addition to everyone within three miles of any Door anywhere. If you’re lucky, it’ll just mean some jail time.”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” spat Oliphant, scowling. Then he turned and bolted out of the temple, running through the town towards the Door.

  “Quin?” John asked, turning.

  “I got it,” Quin replied. He was beginning to feel the pain in his arm and his aching muscles again, so he pushed it down and turned to Kate. “Will you be okay?”

  Kate smiled. “We’re going home,” she said.

  “Thanks,” Landon said.

  “And you?” he asked Meriym, reaching out to touch her arm.

  She nodded and smiled, holding Kip close. “Go.”

  “I’ll be right behind you,” John called out, as Quin disappeared through the temple doors. “Well, sort of.”

  Quin ran. It felt good, oddly, after all of the fighting and bleeding and fear of the temple collapsing, to run – his anxieties, his anger, his frustration all seemed to flow out of his fingers and into the world around him. Sweat ran down his back and his face, the breeze cooled his bare chest and neck, and he matched his breathing to align with the rhythm of his pounding feet. He let Oliphant run for a while, keeping a steady distance between them, knowing that he could easily overtake the little man whenever he chose to do so.

  Above him, the sun was shining and the birds were no longer hovering eerily in the sky. The clouds now drifted instead of hovered, and somehow the world felt right. The strange sense of uncomfortable déjà vu had completely vanished.

  He realized that as a child his father had taken him to an inter-dimensional space to look at a planet – which was why this place had felt wrong and familiar. But now that it orbited a sun, it fell right and familiar. This planet was an oblate spheroid, he assumed, since he couldn’t see and celestial clues to indicate otherwise, and his smile grew. This would be the perfect place for Meriym to raise Kip – if they couldn’t find his parents.

  The two running men crested the hill above the village, and the Door was now only a short jog away. Oliphant was gasping and Quin wondered if he could have made it to the Door without Quin chasing him, but he picked up his speed anyway. Th
ere was no need to risk it.

  He caught up a minute later, and reached out to grab the back of the bookseller’s jacket. Oliphant just collapsed.

  “I knew I would never make it,” he gasped, breathing heavily. “But I had to try.”

  “Well, if you tell the police everything,” Quin replied, “hopefully they won’t blame all of Grise’s crimes on you.”

  “He took the kids, not me!” Oliphant blurted. “And I didn’t help with the planet building or the Pomegranate City propaganda either! I only got books, I swear! And taught some stuff.”

  “We’ll see what the jury has to say about that.” Quin pulled his last pair of cuffs from his pants pocket and slapped them on Oliphant, hoisting the short round man to his feet.

  They stood and waited for a few minutes.

  “Is this some kind of ancient form of torture?” Oliphant whined. “The waiting game or something?”

  Quin rolled his eyes. “Waiting for John,” he answered, and a few moments later John came hustling over the hill.

  “You got him!” he exclaimed.

  “Of course I did,” Quin replied.

  “So…” John hesitated. “Do we have to… go back now?”

  “Your shirt is quite dirty,” Quin pointed out.

  “Yes…” John grimaced. “But Mr. Drake is there.”

  “We’ll probably be arrested,” Quin said. “But then we’ll explain and they’ll let us go. It’s fine. It’s not like we’ve never been arrested before.”

  John nodded, a slight grin crossing his face, and they turned and headed towards the bridge. Everything looked new in the sunlight, like a sparkling clean house or a new set of dishes.

  “There’s going to be nice weather systems on this planet,” John commented. “Aside from Dad’s ‘oops I didn’t move it correctly’ mix-up, he actually did an excellent job designing and building Path. And the grown buildings are a stroke of genius that will save huge amounts of money on natural resources like wood.”

  “What about power?” Quin asked.

  “Once they build a grid, it will be easy enough to run conduits into each house – and they can just bury them so it won’t even be visible. Great place to get a new start, I think, provided they implement a well-structured form of government. First few winters are going to be rough, though.”

  As they reached the bridge, Quin turned back to look at Path. He could feel the anxiety start to well back up in his stomach – he and John had broken about a hundred rules over the past three days, they were bringing back a criminal for whose crimes they had no actual evidence, and he had no idea how long they would be detained if he would ever be able to come back. This saddened him a bit, and silently, across the few miles that lay between himself and Meriym, he wished her well.

  Then he stepped through the Door.

  17. HOW MUCH CAN YOU BLEED?

  Given the number of years Quin had spent in this house, he was always a bit surprised by how little he felt at home here, and never had he felt this more acutely than he did as he stepped through the Door and watched the greens and creams bleed into view. His living room was large and looked exactly as it had when his mother lived here, except for one thing: the people.

  Mr. Drake was the first person he noticed, red in the face, a vein throbbing in his massive neck, and the muscles in his face twitching as he prepared his offensive deluge of anger. Then Tom stepped forward, shoving Drake out of the way and offering Quin and John a hand with a look of genuine concern. Melissa was there, and a number of graduate students whose names Quin couldn’t be bothered to remember. Mr. Green and Mr. Brown were also there, talking in hushed tones about programming and testing – probably something to do with the new Doors.

  But despite the number of individual people, all commotion in the room stilled as they stepped through, and every face swiveled in their direction. It seemed fortunate, Quin reflected later, that they had brought Mr. Oliphant. A quiet gasp sounded as he stumbled through after Quin, ashen, scared, and mumbling. Then John came through, looking tired, and everyone smiled a little. Quin thought that all of them were beginning to feel Door travel fatigue.

  “Oliphant?” Tom asked, surprised.

  “What is the meaning of this?” Mr. Drake demanded. “You have been missing for days! And when you finally decide to show up, you come with a highly-regarded citizen of our lovely city in handcuffs through a Door which we so far have determined is volatile and highly dangerous, and without a sign of Grise! He’s the one we were after this whole time, you dimwits! Not a harmless bookseller from downtown!”

  John and Quin glanced at each other wryly.

  “My fault,” John spoke up. “Quin just came through to save my sorry ass. Good news, though – we’re not all going to die! Before you arrest us, do you think someone could grab me a clean shirt from the stash I keep in Quin’s closet?”

  “Quin, are you okay?” Melissa rushed forward, and Quin glanced down at himself. He realized then that he wasn’t wearing a shirt because it was wrapped around his arm, which was bleeding heavily. His muscles ached and suddenly he felt a little light-headed and thoughts seemed to scamper in a less and less logical order. Perhaps crashing into a wall on top of a panther had been a little bit harder on him than he thought. Then again, it could have been the fight with the bear. Loss of blood? Concussion? He was beginning to feel calm, and then he felt nothing at all.

 

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